Thank you, Sergio, for an interesting link and question. Yes, I have lots to say on this. There were some materials in the Russians press, although this information was diligently covered up and suppressed in the US and West in general.

Quote from the article in Voltairenet.org: “The State Department acknowledged that the crew of the destroyer USS Donald Cook has been gravely demoralized ever since their vessel was flown over in the Black Sea by a Russian Sukhoi-24 (Su-24) fighter jet which carried neither bombs nor missiles but only an electronic warfare device.

On 10 April 2014, the USS Donald Cook entered the waters of the Black Sea and on 12 April a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber flew over the vessel triggering an incident that, according to several media reports, completely demoralized its crew, so much so that the Pentagon issued a protest [1].

The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is a 4th generation guided missile destroyer whose key weapons are Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, and capable of carrying nuclear explosives. This ship carries 56 Tomahawk missiles in standard mode, and 96 missiles in attack mode.

The US destroyer is equipped with the most recent Aegis Combat System. It is an integrated naval weapons systems which can link together the missile defense systems of all vessels embedded within the same network, so as to ensure the detection, tracking and destruction of hundreds of targets at the same time. In addition, the USS Donald Cook is equipped with 4 large radars, whose power is comparable to that of several stations. For protection, it carries more than fifty anti-aircraft missiles of various types.

Meanwhile, the Russian Su-24 that buzzed the USS Donald Cook carried neither bombs nor missiles but only a basket mounted under the fuselage, which, according to the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta [2], contained a Russian electronic warfare device called #Khibiny.

As the Russian jet approached the US vessel, the electronic device disabled all radars, control circuits, systems, information transmission, etc. on board the US destroyer. In other words, the all-powerful Aegis system, now hooked up – or about to be – with the defense systems installed on NATO’s most modern ships was shut down, as turning off the TV set with the remote control.

The Russian Su-24 then simulated a missile attack against the USS Donald Cook, which was left literally deaf and blind. As if carrying out a training exercise, the Russian aircraft – unarmed – repeated the same maneuver 12 times before flying away.

After that, the 4th generation destroyer immediately set sail towards a port in Romania.

Since that incident, which the Atlanticist media have carefully covered up despite the widespread reactions sparked among defense industry experts, no US ship has ever approached Russian territorial waters again.

According to some specialized media, 27 sailors from the USS Donald Cook requested to be relieved from active service.”

The above description is accurate. You can read more, find some relevant videos and pics at Voltairenet.org.

So what happened in the Black Sea?

Mystery revealed:

Note, I am not a military or tech expert, so I will leave this part for others to spell out. What I will do for you is demystify the sequence and logic of the events in the grand-chess-board, geopolitical sense.

The US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 was supposed to culminate in the invasion of Iran. The USA’s plan, as revealed by General Wesley Clark in 2007, was to invade 7 Middle Eastern countries, Iran being the biggest prize. See more about that in: Vladimir Putin’s Message: Part 2.

Russia obviously couldn’t allow the US to take over the entire Middle East, thus creating an area of permanent instability in its unprotected south, or what is called ‘Russia’s soft underbelly.’ Ever since a clandestine battle raged between the US and Russia in which Russia protected Iran, while US tried to invade it. In mid-2000s, the US planned to attack Iran using its navy. The US navy fleet is certainly the most powerful in the world, both in terms of sophistication and sheer numbers.

The Iranian navy wouldn’t be a match for it, and although of course much more sophisticated, neither would Russian. Having been out of circulation in the 1990s, the Russian navy fleet lost the edge it enjoyed during Soviet days. Restoring the above-water fleet was a very expensive and lengthy proposition. Precious time was lost and trying to simply catch up would be risky for Russia. But Russia had advantages in other areas, one of them being submarines, much more sophisticated than those of the US. Another area was the secret Russian electronic weapons capable of jamming the most sophisticated American military electronics, thus rendering the entire giant US fleet useless. These relatively inexpensive but elegant solutions put Russia at an advantage over the USA.

Russia warned the US about its secret weapons. After a few discreet demos, the US got the message and was convinced sufficiently to reconsider the Iran navy attack plan. If you recall, the constant talk about the Iran attack somehow subsided by 2008. Russians, as is typical of them, never said a word about what was happening behind the scenes. If the tables were turned and it were Americans who prevented a war against Iran (yeah, right, keep dreaming…), they would have been trumpeting that achievement forever, and they would certainly have never allowed Iran to forget the favor. Nobel Peace Prizes would certainly be awarded, and so on.

Putin and Lavrov prevented the US invasion of Syria last year (read ESR5: Syria Game Changer), and saved Iran from the invasion more than once, to name just a few. Where is the Nobel Peace Prize? Where is the well-deserved praise? A little difference between Russians and Americans (EU, too), and food for thought…

So, by 2008, the talk of the US navy attacking Iran subsided. Instead, a very interesting thing happened. On August 8, 2008, on the day of the opening of the Beijing Olympics, Saakashvili of Georgia attacked the break-away republic of South Ossetia, killing in the process several Russian peacekeepers. The attack followed a visit to Georgia by Condoleezza Rice. We all know how this story ended – or do we?

The Western media was howling for two years non-stop about the Russian aggression against the poor little Georgia. Russia had the so-called 4-day war with Georgia, which in Russia was referred to as a minor peacekeeping operation. During a short incursion into the Georgian territory, Russian army destroyed an airfield full of American military hardware and the Poti port through which the American military brought in more hardware and supplies into Georgia.

Why would the US do that you ask? The value of Georgia was in its proximity to Iran. Having been told not to use its fleet, the US was implementing plan B: attempting to attack Iran through the unsinkable carrier, called Georgia. By destroying the hardware and port, Russia destroyed the US plans to attack Iran yet again!

The above tells us that among other goals, in Ukraine the US is also pursuing the possibility of a revenge for the past Iran and Georgia fiascos.

By 2014 USA’s memory started failing again and they needed a reminder that Russians weren’t joking about their capability to disable the entire American fleet. When USS Donald Cook entered the Black Sea, Russians decided to send such reminder via a SU-24 demo. This was also a warning not to get any ideas about interfering in the Crimea, which was about to have a referendum to secede from Ukraine. Similarly, the US and their allies were warned not to try an armed invasion of Ukraine via Odessa or Nikolaev ports.

I said in one of the early articles related to Ukraine that Russia’s defence capability is now back to optimal after the lapses of the 1990s. It is interesting that US/EU/NATO seem to continue being extremely surprised about that. Still, the USA’s sense of self-preservation is legendary. This is why (as I said in my Predictions) the US would never dare attack Russia directly. And this is why they will always try to use proxies such as the Kiev junta or Saakashvili (details in BLACK SEA GAMBIT) to provoke Russia.

That said, much of what the US is doing today is payback to Russia for past humiliations. Of course these are humiliations they brought upon themselves. As they say in Russia: ‘don’t dig a grave for someone else, you’ll end up in it yourself.’

Going back to my Predictions, I also said that due to Russia’s unique nature and character, she can bounce back from any adversity much faster than any other country, thus always surprising the attacker. This is why it’s futile to try to invade Russia. In this case, Russians wisely and very discreetly taught Americans a lesson they aren’t likely to forget. This one episode may have stopped the direct military Western interference in Ukraine.

Incidentally, the pilots of that SU-24 are true heroes. One needs nerves of steel and true heroism to go unarmed against a huge, armed to the teeth, American destroyer. Of course, some good Russian technology always helps.

Soviet built SU-24

Added: Remember to check out the comment section where you’ll find more links and tech details. Also, there you’ll find my answers regarding whether the above-mentioned Russian technology is alien and what dimension it belongs to. Finally, in comments I also talk about the legendary examples from the 1829 Russia-Turkey war in Crimea and Black Sea, during which Russians also demonstrated the kind of courage, wit and heroism that allowed them to prevail over a much better armed and numerous adversary.